Build Your Own Backyard Smoker

Real barbecue involves cooking tougher, fattier cuts of meat like pork butt and beef brisket over a duration of 4 to 6 hours or longer at temperatures near the boiling point of water. The payoff: tough meat becomes flavorful and succulent, fat is rendered out and the low, smoky fire leaves the aroma of smoke permeating the meat. A good cook can make good BBQ in anything. I decided after years of working with a small water smoker--and recently acquiring a vacation house--to build one of my own. This project involves a lot of welding, but several wire-feed welders are sold at The Home Depot and Sears, and you can learn to do simple welding with only an hour or two of practice. Salvaged materials will be fine for your smoker's frame. You can use old water pipe, rebar or even electrical conduit.

Barbecue, the traditional American style of cooking, is not to be confused with grilling, although the terms have become almost interchangeable in millions of American backyards. Steaks, burgers and hot dogs are grilled. True BBQ is a different art form altogether.

BBQ-style cooking developed largely in the American Southeast. People who couldn't afford the better cuts of meat were forced to consume tougher, fattier cuts like pork butt and beef brisket. The secret is to cook these cuts very slowly, over a duration of 4 to 6 hours or longer at temperatures near the boiling point of water. Two marvelous things happen when you slow-cook at low temperatures: The tough meat becomes flavorful and succulent, and the fat is rendered out, in sort of a self-basting. A fringe benefit is that the low, smoky fire leaves the aroma of smoke permeating the meat. I burn mostly oak, but my favorite is apple, when I can get it. Any fruit or citrus wood is good. Hickory makes everything taste like bacon, so I use it sparingly. Never use pine, any softwood or any finished lumber (like old furniture).

Don't confuse this low-temperature smoke cooking, which is the essence of BBQ, with cold smoking. Meat that's meant to be preserved by curing with salt or honey and low moisture is also smoked, but in that case the temperatures don't go above 100 F or so, and the smoking period is measured in days, not hours. A properly cured ham can hang at room temperature for months without spoiling--BBQ is meant to be enjoyed immediately.

Traditional BBQ smoking is done in a brick pit, but there are all manner of commercial smokers on the market, ranging from very inexpensive sheetmetal water smokers to giant commercial-quality stainless steel contraptions the size of a small car (and costing almost as much). A good cook can make good BBQ in anything. I'm not even going to touch on the dry-rub-versus-mop debate, the ketchup-versus-vinegar-based BBQ sauce controversy, or whether to baste. I decided after years of working with a small water smoker--and recently acquiring a vacation house--to build one of my own. This project involves a lot of welding, which might seem daunting. Maybe, maybe not--I'm a certified welder, so it was easy for me. Several wire-feed welders are sold at The Home Depot and Sears, and you can learn to do simple welding with only an hour or two of practice. Salvaged materials will be fine for your smoker's frame. You can use old water pipe, rebar or even electrical conduit.

I constructed my smoker out of 10-ga. sheet steel on a frame of 1-in. thinwall square tubing. One caution about barrels--unless you can acquire a genuine food-grade barrel, make your own. Any barrel that used to contain noxious industrial chemicals is not a good option, unless you want to grow another eye on your elbow. I used heavy-gauge steel (just under 1/8 in. thick) to ensure a long service life and to add thermal mass for all-day, slow fires. The round cross section I made isn't necessary--a square or rectangular one will cook just as well, although it will be a little tougher to clean.

Our smoke chamber is 36 in. long x 18 in. in diameter. I made the firebox 12 in. long, which adds up to exactly the width of a standard 4 x 10-ft. sheet of steel, minimizing waste. Conveniently, these are exactly the dimensions that allowed me to use some stainless steel racks meant as a replacement part for a Weber grill. You'll need simple hand tools, a welder, a 4-in. angle grinder and a sabre saw. I lined the bottom of the firebox with a layer of fire-brick to keep the box from burning out too quickly and to conserve heat. I made the smoker so that it can be conveniently broken down into three parts: the firebox, the main smoke chamber and the frame. Collectively, they weigh nearly a hundred pounds, but handles on the smoke chamber make it easy for two people to tote around. Clever use of wingnuts means no tools are needed for assembly. Be prepared to be invited--with your smoker--to lots of outdoor parties.

Despite all the doors being well-sealed, the nature of liquid smoke is to dribble out of every crack and off the bottom of the smoke chamber. This will permanently stain your deck even if the wood has just been sealed. I suggest making a large tray out of sheetmetal, with a raised lip, to go underneath. I installed a drain petcock in the smoke chamber to aid in cleanup.

We'll clean up after we finish dinner, thank you.

Step 1: Welding

You can now buy a 115-volt wire-feed welder for a very modest price. All of the welding we did on this project was done with 0.035-in. flux-cored wire, although you can gas weld if the metal you choose is thinner. Alternatively, if you have an arc (stick) welder, 10 ga. is about as thin as you can weld successfully.

Step 4: Cutting

The steel can be cut with a sabre saw, but it's laborious and consumes a lot of blades. I also tried cutoff wheels on the grinder, which was somewhat faster, although it threw a lot more sparks. Next time, I'll beg, borrow or steal a plasma cutter.

Step 5: Bare Metal

We had a local sheetmetal shop cut the pieces to size and then roll the drum sections for us, which cost about $200. You can use just about anything made of steel--as long as it's not galvanized. If you can find one, try a food-grade steel barrel.

Step 8: Smoke Management

Step 9: Smoke Management

Step 10: Smoke Management

The connection between the firebox and smoke chamber is a 2-in. water pipe, with the collars from a pipe union for nuts. The firebox hangs from this connection, which is surprisingly airtight. A bolt and wingnut lower down keep everything solid.

With everything assembled and painted, it's time to build a hot fire in the firebox, and get all the metal hot enough to set the paint and burn off any mill scale and cutting oil lingering inside. After it all cools off, wash everything and paint the inside of the smoke chamber with vegetable oil to prevent rusting.